[An surgical case of right pulmonary coccidioidomycosis--with subcutaneous coccidiomycosis in the left wrist].

Abstract

Coccidioides is an afferent fungus disease. In Japan, there have been only a few surgical reports on coccidioides disease. We report a 39-year-old male who was diagnosed as having coccidioides disease by biopsy of subcutaneous nodules in the left wrist. The patient also showed a tumor image (1.5 x 1.0 cm) in S4 in the right lung. He had previously lived in Fresno, California on business between 1988 and 1993. After biopsy of the subcutaneous nodules, Itraconazole (200 mg), an anti-fungal drug, was orally administered for the lesion in the right lung for about 6 months. Since the tumor image revealed no improvement through this treatment, the tumor was resected. Histopathological examination by Grocott staining demonstrated the spherical form Coccidioides, i.e., endospores. Only 5 cases of resected pulmonary coccidioidal lesions have been reported in Japan including this case. We must be careful when handling coccidioidal culture because of its strong infectiosity.